Comment on British Adults Overwhelmingly Support UK Ban on Illegal Israeli Settler Imports
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoIt’s an overwhelming majority of people with an opinion, suggesting that if there was a referendum on the matter, where only the people who cared enough to show up and vote would count, it would be 75% in favour, which is an overwhelming majority. This 52% is not the same as the Brexit referendum’s 52%.
FishFace@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
That was a flippant remark - I know it’s not the same. I still wouldn’t call it anything like an overwhelming majority. Excluding undecideds when there are so many is dishonest.
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When deciding policy, political parties only care about the people who will vote based on that policy, or could be induced to vote based on that policy. Undecided voters might as well not exist (when they stay undecided). The normal definition of majority in politics is with undecideds excluded, and they’re typically only excluded by people dishonestly trying to downplay their opponents’ support. In local elections, people who are eligible to vote but do not are typically the largest group, but council seats are still given to people who win a majority
FishFace@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
You’ve started talking about political parties deciding policy, which is one way of looking at news, but not the way I’m thinking about it. I am, after all, not a politician or advising any of them :)
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s pretty obviously a political article and is explicitly making the case that Ed Milliband was right to make the policy change he did last week, so that’s the frame of reference the article’s expecting to be read from, and that means using the definitions of words that fit that frame of reference.